Journalist Head Slams Political Mafia Sponsored by PMO

Director Yossi Bar-Mocha of the journalists' union in Tel Aviv sharply attacked the Prime Minister's Office, Sunday evening for its efforts to bring about changes in Israeli media. He claimed, during a gathering of journalists in Eilat, that recent steps against the media were taken by what he called a political mafia sponsored by the Prime Minister's Office. His claims were met with a few boos.

Bar-Mocha protested what he called the "silencing" law, which raises the compensation in libel cases to 300,000 shekels, and political appointments in the Israel Broadcasting Authority. Hundreds of journalists who came to the conference got a gift from the union: A shirt on which it was written, "We're against the silencing law."